For years, people chased the usual mix of better pay, remote-friendly schedules, or a workplace where the values lined up with their own.
But as AI continues edging into more corners of working life, a new question has quietly jumped the queue: in which companies do workers across America feel they would be the most secure against AI replacement?
Looking at 3,036 survey responses across all 50 states, some interesting patterns start to surface — from the industries people instinctively trust to protect human work, to the surprising mix of companies that now represent emotional safety as much as economic stability.
Key findings
Healthcare dominates the list — and by a wide margin.
Across states, hospitals and major health systems appear again and again: Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, UPMC, Northwestern Medicine, Duke Health, St. Luke’s, MD Anderson, Intermountain Health, Ochsner, Lifespan, and dozens more.
It’s the clearest signal in the dataset: when people imagine a job AI can’t easily evaporate, they picture work that sits close to real human lives, emotions, and decisions. Even non-clinical roles seem to benefit from the halo effect.
Universities quietly form the second great “AI-safe” cluster.
Harvard, Penn State, Rutgers, UNC-Chapel Hill, Purdue, CUNY, Brown, BYU, SNHU, University of Minnesota, Kansas State, Dartmouth Health-affiliated institutions - the list goes on.
Higher education carries a perception of stability, mentorship, and human interaction at scale. Even with digital learning tools expanding, respondents seem to believe core academic work remains stubbornly people-led.
States with strong identities tended to choose employers that reflect them.
Vermont chose Ben & Jerry’s; Maine picked L.L.Bean; Pennsylvania leaned toward Hershey and Penn State; Georgia had Coca-Cola and Home Depot; Alabama chose Alabama Power and Austal USA; Hawaii named Four Seasons and Hawaiian Airlines.
There’s a recurring pattern of workers gravitating toward institutions that feel woven into the local personality — companies that embody the region’s culture as much as its economy.
Aviation and transportation appear surprisingly resilient in people’s minds.
Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Railroad, Union Pacific, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Kansas Department of Transportation — these aren’t typically thought of as cuddly workplaces, yet respondents seemed to associate them with hands-on, coordination-heavy jobs that feel resistant to automation.
Anything that relies on real-time judgment across moving parts got a boost.
Tech-heavy states leaned away from tech-heavy employers.
California’s top picks weren’t Silicon Valley giants — they were California State Parks, Patagonia, and Cedars-Sinai. Washington went with the University of Washington rather than a cloud or AI titan.
Even in Utah, Brigham Young University and Intermountain Health overshadowed tech firms.
The thread: workers may admire innovation, but they trust human-centred institutions to safeguard careers.
Manufacturing made a selective appearance — but only when tied to craft or national purpose.
John Deere in Iowa, Boeing in South Carolina, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut, General Dynamics Electric Boat in Rhode Island - these weren’t random picks.
Respondents seemed drawn to employers where the work blends precision, human oversight, and long-term national or community importance, rather than anonymous factory automation.
States with high tourism leaned into employers rooted in people and place.
Hawaii residents selected companies steeped in service and cultural warmth. Coloradans elevated Breckenridge Ski Resort and UCHealth — a mix of tourism and care work.
Nevadans chose MGM Resorts and the Clark County School District, suggesting two fields that rely heavily on day-to-day human presence, no matter what technology arrives next.
Financial institutions only appear when tied to regional stability.
Regions Bank (Alabama) and Nationwide (Ohio) were notable outliers. Respondents didn’t gravitate toward big Wall Street names; instead, they trusted firms with deep local footprints and reputations for steady, practical work. It’s less about glamour and more about predictability.
Multiple states chose public service over private sector giants.
Tennessee Valley Authority in Tennessee, the Port of New Orleans in Louisiana, and Kansas DOT in Kansas — these choices suggest a quiet preference for institutions that operate on long timelines with mission-driven goals.
Final thoughts
Taken together, the rankings point to a clear, practical shift in worker priorities. Across the country, people are choosing employers they believe can offer stability in a volatile labour market, rather than chasing prestige or shiny benefits packages.
The organizations that rose to the top weren’t the ones making the loudest promises about innovation.
They were the ones with workforces built around skills that can’t simply be automated — hospitals, universities, transport networks, utilities, long-established local brands.
In other words, employers where human input isn’t a “nice to have,” but a structural necessity.
That shift also reframes how people think about presenting their own experience. If workers are gravitating toward employers where human judgment, care, and coordination remain essential, then clearly articulating those qualities matters more than ever. A well-crafted resume becomes less about listing tools or titles and more about showing how someone contributes in ways technology can’t easily replace — problem-solving, decision-making, reliability, and real-world impact. In an economy shaped by automation, the ability to clearly document human value may be one of the quiet advantages workers can still control.
In a climate where AI is reshaping entire sectors at speed, Americans appear to be gravitating toward institutions that look less vulnerable to technological disruption. It’s a pragmatic calculation: choose the workplaces that still rely on people because they can’t function any other way.
Methodology:
We surveyed 3,036 working Americans this December to find out which employers they trust most to protect their jobs as AI becomes more prevalent. The goal was to understand where people believe they'll be safe from automation as we move into 2026.
Our survey captured a wide representation of voices - different ages, genders, industries, and regions across the country. We used stratified sampling to make sure we heard from diverse groups, then adjusted the data afterward to match what the actual U.S. workforce looks like. What emerged is a revealing look at how workers are thinking about job security in an economy that's rapidly automating.
